All Posts by Laura Osburn

a group of individuals, including a man in a wheelchair look a the camera and smile

Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day: Empowering Voices and Enhancing Lives Through Digital Accessibility

As we mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day #GAAD on May 18th, 2023, it’s time to reflect, appreciate, and further advocate for digital accessibility. Digital accessibility is more than just a technological advancement. It’s a path to inclusivity, a channel to express our diversity, and a platform to empower all voices, regardless of physical or cognitive […]


Axe-Con 2023: Designing for Inclusion in the Digital Age

As digital technology advances, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that everyone can access and use it. This is where digital accessibility comes in. Axe-Con, held by Deque Systems, brought together designers and developers to discuss how we can make the web more accessible to people with disabilities. Here are some highlights from the convention […]


Dark Patterns Are Being Forced Into the Light

Perhaps you would like to hear the tale? It begins on a dark night, where a dark man waits… with a dark purpose. -Disney’s Aladdin 1992 What are dark patterns? The term “dark pattern” has been buzzing around the marketing and web design/development community and beyond lately after some… questionable tactics were used on a […]


Illustration of a diverse group of people

What Are User Personas and Should You Be Using Them?

What are user personas?  We should all be working from a user-centric focus, that much we know, but do we know who our users are? Broadly speaking, yes. There is a veritable smorgasbord of analytics tools and survey, testing, and feedback services to capture a snapshot of your target audience. Use them and you’ll have […]


A cartoon illustration of a machine creating men who emerge using an iPad

5 Web Design Trends To Look For In 2021

It’s a bit ironic that I am writing a top trend post given my habit of largely eschewing trends in my own work. The issue I have with trends is that they are…well, trends. By their nature, they may make your website aesthetically obsolete in a year. Nonetheless, every January I find myself consuming top […]